This invention relates to structures comprising a plurality of components connected together and to the connection of such components to one another in a structure.
The invention is of particular, but not exclusive, applicability to structures in the form of articles of furniture, either movable articles of furniture, such as tables, desks etc. or furniture fixed permanently in a building, such as fitted cupboards or the like, and is especially, although again not exclusively, applicable to the connection in such structures of one panel to another, the term "panel" being used herein to include panels, boards, planks and the like components.
In building structures, such as articles of furniture, using panels of "man-made" sheet or board material, such as chipboard or fibreboard, it is often desired to make joints, particularly right-angled joints, between such panels.
Because of the manner in which "man-made" sheet or board material, such as chipboard, is formed, such a material may readily be produced with the major faces thereof having an appropriate finish or finishing layer in a panel cut from such sheet material, the faces, (hereinafter referred to as "edge-faces") formed by the cutting of the panel from the sheet, and extending transversely with respect to the major faces, from one major face to the other, cannot readily be provided with an acceptable finish, and are furthermore, without further treatment, susceptible to damage, so that it is common, for example, to cover such edge faces by a trim member or the like, where such faces would otherwise be exposed to view and/or damage. Furthermore, the structure of such sheet materials, such as chipboard, is such that it is difficult to form adequate and neat joints between panels of such materials by the methods conventional in the manufacture of wooden furniture, for example.
For these reasons, in structures where, for example, two such panels are to be joined at right angles to one another, particularly where the panels provide exposed outer surfaces of the structure, it is customary to connect the two panels indirectly, by connecting both to an intermediate connecting member, which may simply be a frame member of an internal frame, in which case an additional facing member will normally be required to cover the exposed edge face or faces of the or each panel, or may be a complex moulding which also performs the function of masking and protecting the edge face or faces which would otherwise be exposed at the junction between the panels.
It is among the objects of the invention to provide a method of connecting structural components, for example of furniture, the components being, for example, panels, which method is both simple and economical to effect, and is capable of providing a joint between such components which is both strong and of neat and pleasing appearance.